While America is focused on the Donald Trump circus currently gripping the Republican Party, the people of London just did something few would have thought possible in past years.
Sadiq Khan, a leading Labour Party politician was elected as Mayor of one of the world’s oldest and largest cities. He will be the first Muslim to hold the post.
The election is critical for many political reasons- it will be the first time that Labour controls London in eight years, but Khan’s election holds particular importance due to his religious beliefs.
According to Salon, Khan will be the first Muslim to ever be the mayor of a major Western city.
His election comes at a time of increased tensions among politicians in Western democracies and Muslim minority communities.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States has called for a “complete and total” ban of Muslim immigration to the country until America can get a handle on what he perceives is a crisis.
Trump’s last major opponent in the Republican primary, Ted Cruz has also called for American police to surveil Muslim communities, something that many law enforcement experts have rebuffed as a stupid idea.
Khan’s election was not a sure thing as he faced a brutal onslaught of negative campaign messaging from his main opponent, Conservative Party candidate Zac Goldsmith.
Some election observers called Goldsmith’s campaign racist due to the way in which it sought to question Khan’s connection to a radical Islamic cleric (it turned out that Goldsmith had a similar relationship to the man in question) and for how it accused Khan of “giving platform, oxygen and cover to extremists”.
Goldsmith’s own sister called out her brother’s campaign for the way in which it was conducted:
Sad that Zac’s campaign did not reflect who I know him to be- an eco friendly, independent- minded politician with integrity.
— Jemima Goldsmith (@Jemima_Khan) May 6, 2016
Congratulations to @sadiqkhan-1st Muslim Mayor of London- a city for all cultures, backgrounds & religions. A great example to young Muslims
— Jemima Goldsmith (@Jemima_Khan) May 6, 2016
Khan has been a member of the British Parliament since 2005 and comes from a modest background.
The son of Pakistani immigrants, his father was a bus driver in the same city that Khan will now lead for the next four years.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Policy Exchange/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Meet Daniela Núñez, The 23 Year Old Mexican Who Wants To Change The Way We Bury People
“What would happen if there were no graveyards and, instead of graveyards, we built paradises?”
That’s the question 23 year-old Mexican college student, Daniela Núñez, asked herself.
This question would become the foundation of her biodegradable urns project and company: BioEternal.
“BioEternal literally started in one of my courses,” Núñez said in an interview with RISE NEWS. “After researching, she found several companies in Spain, Colombia and Argentina that work with biodegradable urns. That’s when she decided she could make a change by bringing the seldom used concept to Mexico.”
After validating the market in Mexico, Daniela noticed that people like BioEternal, not only because of the practice, but also because of the entire experience the product offers.
With the help of partners and guided by professors from her university, she started creating the foundations for her business.
A critical moment for Núñez and BioEternal happened during her fourth semester of college, where she signed up for an I semester.
The I semester is a unique business incubation offered by the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores Monterrey (ITESM).
“While I was there, BioEternal started moving forward really fast,” Núñez said. “I also faced my biggest challenges. People liked my idea but they kept asking me how I would work with Mexican culture.”
Núñez spoke about the Mexican culture as one of her biggest challenges.
“Mexicans have deep roots in their culture, especially when it comes to death,”
Núñez said. “It’s rare to see practices that differ from what we are used to, or from the typical funerary companies. That part was very complicated and we didn’t know if it would work here in Mexico.”
Daniela Núñez, the founder of BioEternal.
Another challenge Núñez faced while working on Bioeternal was the Catholic Church’s strong presence in Mexico.
“Ad Resurgendum Cum Christo,” a document released in August 2016 signed by Pope Francis states that the ashes of deceased people may not be kept in unholy or unblessed land.
“But after validating the market in Mexico, I realized that people no longer have a strong commitment with the Church,” Núñez said regarding the challenge.
Besides BioEternal, there are five companies that sell biodegradable urns too in her market.
Núñez spoke about Limbo as one of her strongest competitors in Mexico.
“A company that’s already selling and has very good sales is Limbo,” Núñez said. “Their product is something like a sand ball, but their concept and idea is about reintegrating with nature.”
Another company named Colibrí not only work with humans, but also work with animals.
“My plans are to start with humans and then make an approach to the animal market,” Núñez said. “If I started with the animal market, people are going to relate or interpret this practice as something exclusive for animals and that’s not a good idea.”
For Núñez, working with BioEternal has been more than just a way to help the environment.
“It’s very pretty to think about becoming a tree, but that idea is not enough, especially when you’re going through such a complicated stage in your life,” she said.
That’s the reason why Núñez decided to link together her company with the concept of green thanatology.
Without exploring the meaning of life and death, thanatology studies death.
Green thanatology, which is related to liberation, focuses on helping people go through someone’s death with the help of nature.
Companies like Limbo and Colibrí only focus on helping the environment, and this provided Daniela with an area of opportunity.
BioEternal’s focus on healing and its link with thanatology are its main strength and something that puts it beyond its competitors.
Death is not an easy subject to handle.
This is the reason why Daniela not only wants to change processes, but also wants to change experiences.
“It’s no longer an experience of burying a person, but of planting a life,” Núñez said. “Let’s make it beautiful. I want people to be able to keep these memories. That’s one reason why Bioeternal is named that way, because it’s an eternal memory.”
Setting up her company has not been easy and, currently, Núñez’s bigger challenge is money.
Producing a large number of biodegradable urns and signing up for this year’s national funerary convention are big and necessary expenses for her.
“I’m out of resources and I’m going to need help from crowdfunding,” Núñez said.
Núñez said that her long term goals are about making her own funerary company and a Bioeternal park.
“I don’t want families to go to a graveyard. I want this to be a friendly concept in which people visit a forest and visit their own tree because that’s much more attractive and pretty,” Núñez said.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
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This Is The Oldest Building In The Western Hemisphere. We Bet You’ve Never Heard Of It
By Nick Moncy
Secluded within the groves surrounding West Dixie Highway lies a Florida Heritage site you may not have heard of – the Ancient Spanish Monastery.
A North Miami Beach relic, it boasts historic structures containing Romanesque and pre-Gothic architecture. Stretching from as far back as the 12th century, conserved artifacts take visitors into the life of medieval monks in northern Spain.
It is now considered by many historians to be the oldest building in the whole of the Western Hemisphere.
But how this wonder ended up in Miami is a long story
Here’s the condensed version:
From 1133 to 1141 AD, the monastery and cloisters were constructed in Sacramenia, a city in the province of Segovia, Spain. Originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it was renamed to recognize its renowned abbot Bernard of Clairvaux after his canonization.
The Cloisters housed Cisterian monks for seven centuries following, after which a social shift in the 1830s had the buildings converted into a simple granary and stable.
In 1925, famous publisher William Randolph Hearst acquired the Cloisters and the Refectory (the original Monastery section still stands overseas). Both were disassembled, numbered by part, packed into about 11,000 wooden boxes and shipped to the United States. After they lay in a warehouse in Brooklyn, New York for almost a decade, most parts were sold at an auction after the Great Depression ruined Hearst financially; the remainders were sent back to storage.
In 1952, Ohio businessmen William Edgemon and Raymond Moss bought the remainder of the stones looking to create a tourist hotspot in Miami.
It proved to be a challenge because the workmen involved in the grand move thirty years ago did not replace the stones in their original numbered boxes. Reconstructing the Cloisters took 19 months and almost $1.5 million (surpassing $13 million in today’s currency). TIME magazine called the effort “the biggest jigsaw puzzle in history”.
After financial struggles in 1964, the Cloisters were once again up for sale. Wealthy banker and Episcopal donor Col. Robert Pentland, Jr. swept in and purchased them for the Episcopal Bishop of Florida. The monastery now houses the Episcopal Church of St. Bernard de Clairveux.
Largely in thanks to Edgemon and Moss’ contribution, this story physically unravels across the space in several parts.
At the front of the property is a moderately-sized lobby area full of ancient artifacts. Though they are protected by glass cases and velvet rope, one can whiff a hint of rust. There are corbels used to support the weight of wall fixtures, a hearse that carried dead bodies, even a hymnarium propped on a refectory table that monks read from while gathered for meals. There are cabinets covered with fresco paintings by a student of Raphael’s done alla prima, a rapid style that required oil paintings to be completely finished before the first layer of paint dried. At the back of the room there is even a full suit of armor from the 1600s.
Double doors open to an outdoor path toward the monastery, an escape from the onslaught of outdated vocabulary. An iron gate introduces the spacious, elegantly-pruned garden, a nursery before the Monastery’s arrival. It resembles a maze: narrow, crunchy gravel paths lead visitors all over.
The Ram’s Head Pillar, Baptismal Font and donated statues of Jesus and Mary stand scattered throughout the garden. One shaded path at the back right goes to the refectory section of the Monastery, which holds the chapel in which North Miami Beach Anglicans congregate.
Getting back on the central path leads to the Cloisters’ foreboding wooden doors. Above them is a detailed relief of Mary’s crowning by angels; lions representing Leon and Castille are visible in the scene. A metal bell up above once clanged boisterously to summon monks for meals long ago, but these days there is only tranquil silence.
The atmosphere inside the Cloisters is still, accompanied only by echoed footsteps and occasional chanting. Its main area is composed of hallways and chambers bordering a roofless, central courtyard. The contrast between the illuminated patio and the dark columned hallways is an aesthetic phenomenon that illustrates the Cloisters’ harmony with Miami tropics. In the halls on opposite corners are life-size statues of both Alfonso VII, king of Leon and Castille during the Monastery’s construction, and his grandson Alfonso VIII. In all, this is certainly hallowed ground.
Though the Monastery is a masterpiece from the past, its history continues to grow today. The twenty-acre attraction alone contains about one thousand unique plant and tree species. Fifty-thousand people visit annually, with sixty-five percent of that crowd being tourists. It also draws in members of the northern Miami community: last year, nine hundred public, private and homeschooled students received educational programming that met Florida’s curricular standards. The Ancient Spanish Monastery Foundation non-profit recognizes local leaders and outstanding figures each year at its Legacy Gala and pours all its proceeds back toward the preservation efforts for the site.
If you stop by for a tour, one figure you’re sure to meet is Tania Witten. An employee at the Monastery since 1999, she organizes bridal events. “It gets crazy here sometimes,” Witten said in an interview. “This place is used for weddings, quinceñeras, and even yoga four times a week.” She also noted the intriguing fact that despite its prominence, the Monastery and Cloisters are hidden gems to most North Miami Beach natives. “No one knows about us, really, even people who’ve lived here for fifty years. They’d say, ‘I never knew this was here.’”
Photo Credits: Nick Moncy/ RISE NEWS.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us
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VIDEO: 14 Year Old Tiger Woods Talks Poignantly About Race And Golf
With Tiger Woods in the throes of a major slump, it is sometimes hard to remember how incredible and important he has been for the game of golf.
With few exceptions, Woods has also been a model citizen and a somewhat bland sports star, careful and guarded in public life.
But he is also probably the greatest golfer of his generation (perhaps ever) and without a doubt the most successful African-American golfer of all time. That latter fact about his skin color is dismissed by some in the Obama era as non important. But golf is still a segregated sport in many parts of the country, due to a slew of reasons.
An amazing video that was posted online in 2013 by Trans World Sport shows what a young Tiger Woods thought about race and golf in 1990.
At just 14 years old, Woods was already seen as a future star of the game and judging by the tape, it is also clear that he understood how important his presence on the world stage would be for African-Americans across the country.
H/T: USA Today
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